Professional Development : Working Slower
By Neal Glatt , CSP , ASM
There are times when managers have no choice but to jump into the field and lend a helping hand to meet some pressing obligations . And while most managers bring a big boost of productivity in these times , I no longer personally contribute that way . My goal , when I have to perform a critical task outside my role , is to work slower , and it ’ s a strategy that more managers might want to copy .
The key reason why I work slower is because if I ’ m performing duties outside of my role it means something has gone wrong . Either we don ’ t have the manpower available ( because we made them feel undervalued and quit ) or the manpower available isn ’ t competent enough to perform the task ( because we haven ’ t trained them well enough ). Either way , the problem lies with us as managers .
So , I leverage the opportunity to be hands-on not to perform work as quickly as possible because I can , but rather to work slow and remedy those two workforce problems . I enter “ training mode ” where workers are protected from all the time pressure of the job , and we slowly demonstrate every step of every process . Work is frequently paused to explain the reasoning that tasks occur , and work is done in specific ways . And , when something is completed , we often undo the work so it can be redone without my involvement while I supervise and provide feedback . see replicated I affirm , compliment , and reinforce .
Working slowly is like saving money . In the moment , it requires discipline and doesn ’ t deliver immediate gratification . Something must be sacrificed in the short-term , but there are real benefits in the long-term . When I work slower , it ’ s usually only once or twice with an employee on any given task because they become empowered to run the show on their own after that point . It ’ s like earning compound interest .
The solution to not having enough time and people to complete all of the obligations is to slow down , not speed up . Taking this counterintuitive approach to dedicating resources and effort to training , especially when it feels like we can ’ t , is the way to empower organizations to break the vicious cycle of always playing catch up .
Neal Glatt is the Managing Partner of GrowTheBench , an online training platform for the green industry . Connect with Neal at www . NealGlatt . com .
The other benefit of slowing work down is that there is plenty of time to express appreciation for everything that employees are doing well . That may be as simple as being open and receptive to instructions or exercising care in delivering quality work . Whatever behavior is occurring that I would like to
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